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Apple, Google & Microsoft Have Teamed up to Block the Right-to-Repair Law
Apple, Google & Microsoft Have Teamed up to Block the Right-to-Repair Law:
Bloomberg today released a report on how companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are working together to put a stop to laws that would make it necessary for companies to provide device schematics, genuine repair parts, and repair manuals to independent repair technicians.
Almost 27 states have considered the laws in 2021 alone, but in more than half of them, the laws have been voted down or dismissed. Many lobbyists and trade groups representing tech companies have fought hard against this law with Apple pointing out that such measures could lead to device damage or consumers harming themselves when attempting to repair their devices.
In Washington, for example, Washington House of Representatives Democrat Mia Gregerson sponsored a Right to Repair measure that was fought by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, along with lobbyists representing Apple. Lobbyists later said that Apple would endorse repair programs at local colleges if the bill was dropped.
Also at Bloomberg and MacRumors.
See also: Leaked Apple Documents Inadvertently Helped the Right-to-Repair Movement
Louis Rossmann Starts a GoFundMe to Get "Right to Repair" Legistation Passed Through a Direct Ballot
Summary Louis Rossmann, electronics repairman and YouTuber, has started a nonprofit and GoFundMe campaign to fight to get right to repair legislation passed through direct ballot initiatives. For years Louis has talked about the importance of right to repair and how it has become more difficult t...
Right to repair series - Louis Rossmann
In this series he specifically explains why we need better right to repair laws.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyM7FxEaShI
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Taxi Dudinous on Friday May 21 2021, @05:55PM (31 children)
Why waste time trying to fix anything from these companies. Just throw their garbage away and get something that works.
Oh. Right. Already did that. :-)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Tork on Friday May 21 2021, @06:15PM (18 children)
I'm not saying things shouldn't be reparable, simply that we probably don't need to trade one extreme for another.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @06:48PM (7 children)
The argument that Louis Rossmann has been using lately is that he can't order a $5 part from a supplier because Apple forbids it, and Apple charges $1500 to make the fix. That's for some Macbook, not iPhone.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday May 21 2021, @07:04PM (6 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Friday May 21 2021, @07:10PM (3 children)
That's outrageous.. It shouldn't cost you a penny.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday May 21 2021, @07:20PM (2 children)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @12:14PM
Two years is not an acceptable total lifetime for a laptop, what is this, the 1990s?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday May 23 2021, @05:36PM
Batteries shouldn't swell up and threaten to explode, ever. I wish everybody demanded a full refund on the unit. What other way is there to prevent a repeat?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rich on Friday May 21 2021, @11:30PM (1 child)
Just earlier, today, I swapped out the original battery of the 2009 Macbook Pro I type this very message on. Third party replacement: 25,90€ including shipping, works like a charm, including the touchpad clicker, which was stuck from the swelling, too. While the computer was open, a replacement for the broken original DVD drive (13,95€ including shipping, used) also went in. If I feel inclined to, I can now "Rip. Mix. Burn." to my hearts content (remember when that was the in-thing you just had to be able to) from CDs I actually own. :) Economically sound, with a remaining value of around 400€ (with a good SSD, and some people still seem to value Snow Leopard capabilities plus not the disintegrating ATI chips of the years after). Apple already made it a bit difficult with the 1.5mm pentalobe screws, which didn't quite match the tri-wing screwdriver the battery folks kindly included next to a PH00 for the case, but fortunately I had a fitting screwdriver on hand, because I've already had to deal with such crap. I hear the tri-wing might come in handy for some Nintendo gear.
Also, for your earlier post, that non-repairable stuff is more reliable, mileage varies very much here. I have a 2012 RMBP, which was the first to have soldered-in-RAM. Guess what. Precisely that RAM fucked up and the Apple online help had the chutzpah to explain that the startup sound means my RAM is defective and I need to change the modules. A service odyssey ensued that set me back around 800€ and involved a replacement logic board shipped in from Australia (yes. NOT neighbouring Austria.), where a simple 80€ module swap would have done on a model of the year before.
At least for the 2012 RMBP, I have a 2280-SATA adapter on hand that I can plop in a 1TB Samsung stick when the SSD craps out. No such option with the 2020 16" and its soldered-in SSD. If it hadn't been for customer requirements, I would not have bought that box (the price of which at least ended fully on an invoice to said customer..., but hey, to its credit, it has the best sound I've ever heard from a laptop)
You can't even tell them to shove it, because bloody Tim Cook would come out saying that they actually do that, and they like it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 23 2021, @04:09PM
So just because the battery and RAM aren't glued or soldered in doesn't mean the stuff is less reliable.
It's not as fast as the latest and greatest but it works well enough. FWIW I already replaced the spinning disk drive with an SSD many years ago which is probably why it feels fast enough. Then some years later upgraded to a larger SSD.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday May 21 2021, @07:09PM (4 children)
None of these bills mandate any design changes. They can continue to build them in whatever manner they see fit.
What they do mandate is that things like schematics are provided and allow individuals to purchase OEM parts from manufacturers.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday May 21 2021, @07:51PM
I didn't read the article. My bad.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 23 2021, @02:03PM (2 children)
I just want to be able to replace the battery in my current phone. The phone is fine, it could last for years. The battery is shot. It's dying. Soon it won't be able to charge.
My last phone still works. It can't charge the battery, but swapping the battery is possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 23 2021, @04:16PM (1 child)
My workaround is to buy a phone that's not too expensive. That way swapping the entire phone cost just a bit more than an iphone battery replacement (out of warranty).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 23 2021, @05:23PM
The amount of phone you can get for less than $100 is pretty good these days. 8 cores, 2-3 GB of RAM, 1080p, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jLncvFgUY8 [youtube.com]
Flash memory should last a long time if you're barely using it. But if you are taking lots of photos or whatever, a MicroSD card could help.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @07:11PM
That's absolutely fine. Connectors of any kind are typically both expensive and unreliable so sure it makes a lot of sense to design these out whenever practical.
Right to repair is not about things like soldering versus wire wrap versus connectors or whatever. It is primarily about the ability to purchase parts and documentation needed for repair.
(Score: 5, Informative) by sjames on Friday May 21 2021, @09:22PM
Fine and dandy it it's soldered by necessity, solder stations aren't that expensive. But they don't stop there. The replacement parts that you might choose to solder in are made unavailable, the cases are glued shut when screws and a gasket would work as well or better. The ever so breakable glass is glued to the display such that you need an expensive and specialized laser device to burn the glue out. Then the genuine replacement parts can only be sourced from otherwise broken phones and the firmware is rigged to detect 3rd party parts and "malfunction" if found.
You should watch some of Rossmann's videos where he does $100 repairs after the "Geniuses" claimed only a $1500 replacement was possible. There are also shops that can retrieve irreplaceable data from a damaged iPhone after Apple said the data was gone forever. Apple is doing it's best to put them out of business.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 22 2021, @12:17AM (2 children)
Good point. However, the drive is not to make everything "consumer repairable", but "repairable". The average automobile driver cannot, will not even attempt, to change his fuel injectors. Joe Average doesn't have the tools, the skills, or the know-how. But, Joe can take his oversized Hemi down to Uncle Albert's auto repair, and have all the work necessary done, at rates much cheaper than Mopar will ever charge.
We've touched on soldering and other hot work in other discussions on SN. I suck at it. I can solder big stuff, but my vision and muscle control limits me with a soldering iron. I simply could not disassemble then reassemble something like a smart phone. But, I know people who can do that kind of work - in fact, they enjoy it. I can outperform some of these guys all day long on most of our work, but I have to give them my fine soldering work. They eat that shit up.
We want the right to decide if, how, where, and who is going to make repairs on our stuff. We don't want to answer to the Corporate Masters. We don't want to pay $700 for repairs that Jim Bob's Electronics is willing to do for $90.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by coolgopher on Saturday May 22 2021, @01:12AM (1 child)
But that would mean actually having a free market. We cannot have that!
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Saturday May 22 2021, @06:42AM
But that would mean actually having a free market. We cannot have that!
^^^^ This, a thousand time, this!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @06:32PM (9 children)
The fundamental problem is that this anti-repair cancer is spreading to basically all industries. The reality is that if companies like Apple can get away with things like contracting with suppliers to prevent them from selling chips to anyone else, or obligating disposal companies to destroy perfectly working products just to make sure that nobody can possibly get anything functional from the garbage, then basically everyone else is incentivised to operate in the same way.
"Just don't buy Apple" doesn't help you fix your tractor when all the tractor manufacturers are doing the same thing.
"Just don't buy Google" doesn't help you fix your washing machine when all the washing machine manufacturers are doing the same thing.
"Just keep using products built in the 1980s that don't have any of these problems" can help, but is not a long-term solution.
(Score: 2) by Taxi Dudinous on Friday May 21 2021, @06:46PM (8 children)
Alright! I'm busted. Was just being snarky because these companies upset me on such a regular basis. iPhone would be nicer if one could easily change the battery. But being able to open the case means less reliable water resistance, and perhaps a slightly larger form factor. For a laptop, I would rather have that slightly larger form factor and be able to upgrade/repair, but Apple says "better get what you want when you buy, because what you get is what you get".
As far as Microsoft and Google, well I am a little worried if I can not get their things fixed. I mean, I am pretty certain my stuff is broken
My windows has not been hampering my productivity as much as usual. I am worried. And I am worried about google, since they have not been tracking me as much as I think they should. I don't feel safe anymore. What ever shall I do? /s
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Friday May 21 2021, @10:00PM (7 children)
The form factor thing is funny. I have an actually waterproof and impact resistant phone where the battery compartment is sealed with a gasket and screws. It's thicker than a bare iPhone, but thinner than an iPhone held in a protective cover that so many people buy at the same time as their iPhone. There's an iFixit page with instructions for changing the battery (which is available on Amazon).
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 22 2021, @12:25AM (6 children)
O-rings and gaskets were something of a problem for me as a young person. It took some time for me to understand, "If you disturb a gasket, REPLACE IT!!" You can study an O-ring under a nice powerful magnifying glass, and it looks perfect, but reusing it means that your gadget is going to leak - oil, water, or whatever.
If your gadget/appliance/whatever is worth 2 hours of your time to repair it, it's worth a new gasket.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Saturday May 22 2021, @05:19AM (4 children)
I'm typing this on a Caterpillar S60. Nice big metal gasketed hatch for the sim and microSD, but still no replaceable battery. Water has nothing to do with it. They want you to throw your phone away every two years and buy a new one.
First battery puffed up within warranty, so they replaced the whole phone for free. About another year and the second one puffed up. Had a local repair shop do it for about $150.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday May 22 2021, @07:40PM (3 children)
After about 2 years, the battery in my first smartphone puffed up. And somehow took the phone with it. When I installed a replacement battery, I found that the phone was dead.
Perhaps it was because I kept it on the charger most of the time. The rep at the store seemed to think that was why the battery had failed.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday May 22 2021, @07:55PM (2 children)
You'd think they could make a charge controller that stops when the battery is charged and then runs the phone on line power.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday May 23 2021, @07:33AM (1 child)
That might have added $0.05 to the BOM. We can't have that, now can we?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 23 2021, @04:21PM
Apparently it requires root access and a phone manufacturer who is OK with their phones lasting a LOT longer when geeks use it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slash.batterychargelimit&hl=en&gl=US [google.com]
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday May 22 2021, @05:23PM
I have a 3D printer and a roll of TPU. If all else fails, I can print a gasket.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Friday May 21 2021, @09:11PM
The problem is that the trend keeps growing. You used to be able to buy and install John Deere parts. Replaceable batteries used to be a given.
The other day, Rossmann posted a video about Asus claiming that the thickness of a thermal pad was proprietary information. Some munchkin flagged the video as abusive content on Facebook.
The illegal practice of claiming warranty is void if the user opens the case is nearly ubiquitous. Third parties that work out schematics and repair procedures for themselves tend to get nastygrams from legal teams. Some devices even have custom chips that are nothing more than an off the shelf part with a couple pins reversed just to prevent 3rd parties from being able to get repair parts. Dell dipped a few toes in that water when they produced a series of mainboards with pin-swapped power connectors such that plugging in a standard ATX power supply would blow the board.
It's worth fighting today so that tomorrow we won't find that all the things are disposable crap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:38PM
You don't need solder to do that, you just need a method of connecting things that won't jiggle loose, we've had things like screws and hot glue for ages. No soldering, but it'll hold tight in pretty much every situation where they're not destroying the other components. Plus, it's primarily being done to prevent people from fixing what they've bought, any improved reliability is a downside for them, not an upside. If they could prevent people from fixing their stuff without improving durability, they would.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Friday May 21 2021, @05:57PM (9 children)
From the summary, emphasis by me:
Makes totally sense. </sarcasm>
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @06:22PM (1 child)
Indeed. The entire lot of them can go fuck themselves. Sideways. With a rusty hacksaw.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday May 21 2021, @06:27PM
They already tried that once. It resulted in brain damage leading to the current situation where their devices cannot be repaired.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 2) by slinches on Friday May 21 2021, @06:42PM (1 child)
The logic there is that consumers will harm themselves by forcing the companies to remove or cripple hadware features that could be repaired to extend the life beyond what the company has computed to be optimal for their profits.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:42PM
That's a bit like suggesting that it's his own fault that I put that severed horse's head in his bed, he should have taken my offer. We need proper regulations that hold companies accountable when their devices don't last a reasonable amount of time. There's no reason why batteries need to be soldered to the board when a dab of hot glue will prevent them from jiggling loose, the small amount of extra resistance is just not that significant.
There's also no reason for companies to be allowed to bundle unrelated software that can't be uninstalled from the device by the owner. They sold the device, they shouldn't be allowed to dictate how it's going to be used beyond the basics needed to prevent damage to the networks they're connecting to.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Friday May 21 2021, @10:06PM (4 children)
That and the crazy paternalistic attitude. They sound like a parent telling a 3 year old "no no" when they explore an electrical outlet.
I'm pretty sure I can handle changing out a battery without any fatalities.
If companies were really interested in consumers not hurting themselves, they'd stop with the bulletproof blister packaging (responsible for about 1600 ER visits/year in the U.S.).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 22 2021, @12:33AM (1 child)
Again, let's not concentrate so much on what any individual consumer may or may not be able to do. You and I can change batteries out, big and small, in almost any application, from personal use to industrial scale. But, that really doesn't matter. If I find some exotic setup that I can't handle, I can always find someone who can do the job for me.
Cars again - there are shops in every town that will work on your Dodge, your Chevy, your Ford, or your Freightliner. You have the choice of returning your vehicle to the factory authorized dealer, or going to Suzy's Beauty Shop and Auto Repair at the shopping center.
This is the choice John Deere owners and iPhone owners alike are demanding.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday May 22 2021, @01:20AM
That is worth keeping in mind as well. Even people who are a danger to themselves and others if they go near tools can benefit from taking their device to a nearby independent repair shop or a friend.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Saturday May 22 2021, @06:45AM
I'm pretty sure I can handle changing out a battery without any fatalities.
Don't tell anyone - Apple will say you are not doing it right!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday May 22 2021, @07:47PM
Yeah, that paternalism leapt out at me. Infantilize us all. Very offensive. Like those warning labels on so many electronic devices that they should only be serviced by trained professionals. And that you'll void your warranty if you dare try it yourself. Manufacturers been saying that crap for decades.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by looorg on Friday May 21 2021, @06:30PM (2 children)
Does Rossmann really need a funding campaign? If he just cut back on his excessive flux usage he would be covered.
That said there is a point. Repairs are getting harder. But a lot of it seems to be down to other issues such as component consolidation and miniaturization. They want ease of manufacturing, that it becomes harder to repair is probably mainly a bonus to them. Not that they mind at all. Cause they clearly doesn't want users to tinker with their products.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @06:41PM (1 child)
There is a world of difference between "I can't fix this because I don't have the tools or the skills to do it" and "I can't fix this because the supplier is contractually obligated to not sell replacement chips to me."
Right to repair is all about issues like the latter.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday May 21 2021, @11:13PM
Yes that is a valid point, if anything repairs should actually almost be easier cause now a lot of it has become -- hook up diagnostics unit/harness to machine, press button, unit tells you to replace faulty component X. Replace and done, hopefully. No need to sit there and do diagnostics by hand and a multimeter. That is if they wanted to sell you their proprietary (blackbox-) component they created to replace a few other common components.
My point was that while there are some evidence now and then that they are indeed just fucking with people and trying to make things harder to repair and fix, cause they probably want you to buy a new and not have it repaired. I also do believe that a lot of it actually has to do with that they want to make them cheaper to manufacture, or to control manufacturing etc. If they can save a cent if they consolidate a few components or if they make their own, or they make it annoyingly hard to create "pirate components", and then they multiply that with the amount the predict they'll sell and $$$ and that is all that really matters to them I would think. That things become harder to repair, or that you have to replace a $5 component repair with a $500 component-unit-box repair is probably something they prefer and is considered a bonus.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday May 21 2021, @07:16PM (1 child)
Click here to see what it is!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @10:51PM
Sorry, but this troll is a little too obvious. Next time, try to be a bit more subtle.
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Friday May 21 2021, @08:40PM
they are a little smarter and have caught on to those parasites scam. They have the movement started and going strong unless they want to sell two different models they will need to change. Oh and that gluing shit down is going to go too the Europeans want it all repairable and the reduction of waste/wastage due to this is going to have to meet the climate change goals so is going to trump their obscene profit motive. They will not be able to pull the wool over their eyes it is everything that is going to be covered by these laws. This yearly upgrade cycle is going to go the way of the dodo there eventually.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday May 21 2021, @09:07PM (9 children)
It's one thing to not be able to change the $20 battery in your $300 phone. It's a completely different thing to not be able to fix the $100 widget in your $30k doohicky that costs you $20k for every day it's out of service, and if you don't meet a narrow window you can never harvest those rotten/spoiled crops.
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday May 21 2021, @09:10PM
Holy shit that is an old tagline. It only lasted for 3-4 days and was poking at a friend. (the viagra/gramma thing)
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Friday May 21 2021, @09:23PM (1 child)
Maybe it is cheaper to pull out all software (and locked computers) from the tractor and put in new ones with hardware and software that anybody is allowed to handle in any way he or she deems appropriate.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @09:38PM
That would require replacing the engine and likely the transmission as well. It also wouldn't help when you need other replacement parts that can only be purchased (and installed) by the dealer. It wouldn't surprise me if accessories have some sort of DRM built in to them too these days.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 21 2021, @09:35PM (1 child)
I've posted this before, but I'm facing a situation with a furnace with a noisy fan bearing. It is impossible to oil it, let alone replace it, without breaking the moulded plastic motor housing. The bearing should last at least 20 years with proper maintenance and is a common part worth about 30¢. When that bearing inevitably fails I'm looking at replacing the entire fan assembly for over $500 in parts alone and it can only be purchased and installed through an authorized dealer, meaning labour fees too. I can't even pull the fan assembly to clean it without dismantling half of the furnace, and there is no manual to say how to do that without wrecking it. This is standard across the industry and there is no recourse.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:32AM
Roughly similar with the circulator fan on our house AC unit. It's a metal squirrel cage blower (about 12" dia) and the design means that access to the motor requires removing the fan hub from the motor shaft (or destroying the fan housing). However, living in the damp AC ducts means that the hub is rusted solid on the motor shaft. Unlike any sensible hub, there are no tapped holes or shoulders to connect a shaft puller (after a couple of weeks of daily application of liquid wrench). I tried grinding some notches in the side to use a generic puller, but no dice. It's all galvanized (except the motor shaft--source of the rust), so I'm not keen on using a torch and getting myself zinc plated.
The motor ball bearings have (by the obvious death rattle) lost most of their grease and I'm assuming they are cheap shielded bearings. If there was a way to get the motor out, it would probably be straightforward to replace the bearings with some high quality sealed units, for a few bucks apiece.
When the fan packs it in, again, I'm in for another dealer fan replacement -- already done this twice in 10 years.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Friday May 21 2021, @10:14PM (3 children)
It really tells me something when I hear that farmers in the midwest have resorted to downloading cracked software from eastern Europe in order to maintain their equipment. The world sounds a little more like a Gibson novel every day. It shouldn't!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:46PM (2 children)
A lot of those same farmers are the same people that vote for politicians promising to lower taxes on corporations and get rid of loopholes. Anybody voting for that deserves what they get as a natural consequence of their actions. I wish people, in general, would pay more attention to the effects of the policies they're supporting, especially when it bites them in the ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @05:56PM (1 child)
what does taxes have to do with anything except your government-sucking slave dogma?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @06:46PM
Remove the excessive profit motive and you'd remove the incentive to engage in this kind of behavior. If Apple couldn't have hundreds of billions of dollars just sitting there, they probably wouldn't be so focused on nickling and diming people on repairs. Most of the problems with corporate behavior are the result of a combination of perverse incentives and a lack of regulation telling them they can't do such horrible things.
Similarly, you wouldn't see so many sweatshop produced products if they weren't allowed to keep the profits of utilizing such labor.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @01:25AM (3 children)
To allow me to tell Apple, Microsoft, and Google to go fsck themselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:34AM (2 children)
But it might take a law to make them listen?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:47AM
There will come a time when open source gadgets will become viable. Personally I don't need much, and a well documented repairable widget will be much preferred. We are at the low cost small form factor already, just economy of scale becomes the main inhibitor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @06:03PM
They will listen when the dumb slaves quit buying their shit.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday May 22 2021, @02:35AM (1 child)
So, there are people who can repair these devices and not get hurt and there are some who might get hurt: these devices don't kill people, some people kill people (themselves).
So, the right to repair should be comparable to, what is it?, the second amendment?
If you don't know what you're doing and get hurt: mea culpa, but it's not specifically the device that killed you.
Any Americans want to use their First Amendment on this? :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @06:50AM
Any Americans want to use their First Amendment on this? :)
I am fairly sure you have the right to shoot Apple products. Not so sure you have the right to shoot Apple executives, but it looks like it might be a good idea.
Shooting is too good for lobbyists.
--
You have the right to remain dead.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @03:09AM (3 children)
This whole shit-fight is because once sold, products have a negative value to those selling them, in that they prevent further sales by satifying market demand.
So, left to a 'free market' you'll end up with shoddier and shoddier products filled with self-destruct or just carelessly fragile designs because that allows their 'negative value' to the manufacturers to be lessened.
This is classic short-sighted greed, and another reason why the basic idea of 'free market capitalism' is about as wise as 'golden rule as the be-all and end-all of dealing with people'. (Just in case you are honestly unaware, as many are, the golden rule is appropriate to tell to kids in kindergaten. It is superceded dramatically by the principle that you need to treat people as *they* need to be treated, which depends upon *them* and *not* you).
Death, Taxes, Government regulation - all unavoidable because of the universe, with it's pesky second-law of thermodynamics.
'free-market' and it's bullshit all only depend / want to understand only the principle of the *first* law of thermodynamics, which is really the same as the law of conservation of energy - also conservation of matter. Like Gold, which nicely comes closest to actually behaving that way, in that it doesn't so easily degrade away due to corrosion like other metals.
Running the world using a fincial system which is willfully ignorant so as to maintain a justification for, well, maintaining ownership - even to the point of often demanding tax breaks because, 'boo-hoo my stuff degraded with time :( give poor me a tax break because that's just so unfair :( '
Look into the tax breaks the rich and powerful have arranged for themselves, and you'll see shit like that everywhere. They live in worlds where their servents clean up after them - they really believe that 2nd law - which just guarentees mess and decay in general - isn't a thing. To them, if they find a mess, SOMEONE IS TO BLAME.
And they're the ones who end up in control of the big names like these three...
If anything ever ought to be put into law, and fast - before we lose all ability to repair or even discover how our magic black boxes work - it is this 'right to repair' thing.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @03:29AM (2 children)
This is just one of the many things Adam Smith was warning about when he said that businessmen never get together without conspiring against the public good. A free market can only exist in the presence of tight regulations and strict rule of law. The reason Right to Repair is even a thing is because the laws against tying have broken down and aren't being enforced anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 22 2021, @07:21AM (1 child)
Laws against lying?
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Saturday May 22 2021, @08:54AM
Anti-fraud laws are exactly this. As are laws against libel.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 23 2021, @03:04AM
I guess "Don't be evil" wasn't working for Google.